Of Snow and Happiness
by CarameltPud
Summary: "Everybody wants happiness; nobody wants pain. But you can't have a rainbow without a little rain." – Zion Lee


I have always been content with my life. I didn't really excel in academics or sports and being average worked just fine for me. I didn't really see the need to be great at them. I was a bit proud of my appearance because even if I didn't have the most beautiful of faces out there, I was still above average in the face department. It was the only thing that stood out from me in all honesty.

I was just your average person in any average place. If there was one thing I would be passionate about, that would be anime and all the beautiful characters in there. I have fantasized about one particular anime since the longest of times: Naruto.

Who doesn't like ninjas and flying fireballs and shuriken, am I right?

It would be awesome to be able to go inside the Naruto universe and scream 'Screw physics! I can stand on water!'

That is, until the day a drunk driver ran me over with their car and I died…

And I reincarnated into the Naruto world where killing is encouraged and child soldiers are a common sight.

I open my eyes to blurry darkness. It took a few moments to adjust my eyes to both clarity and the darkness that apparently surrounds a room.

Where am I? What happened? Didn't I die?

I try to turn my head, but it takes a greater effort than usual. It's strange. My body feels strange. Now that I focus again, the world seems a lot bigger than I last saw it. Did the collision with the car made me like this?

That's a flawed assumption though. I don't quite think that's the case.

Suddenly, while I was busy with some conspiracy theories swimming inside of my head, an oppressing aura enveloped the area and pressed down at me. If there is a word to closely describe what it feels like, it would be malice.

I, can't, breathe.

The world seems to have turned red and it feels like the wispy aura is coiling around my neck and strangling me for whatever is worth.

My throat turns dry and constricted. My eyes watery and my breathing hitched.

I cry out in fear at the sudden breathlessness, just begging for whatever that's doing this to go away.

What erupted from my throat was a desperate, strangled cry of a baby.

I have become a baby?!

What in the seven hells?!

I panic and cried as best as a baby could in the increasingly oppressive environment that's filled with the malicious aura.

Perhaps this is just a dream, a nightmare.

That must be right! This can't be real!

"Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" I cry and cry and cry. The crying babies around me didn't help the situation either.

The negative aura in the air further fueled the feeling of impending death and fear surged.

In the midst of all the chaos, a few people entered the room. One by one they try to calm the babies down, and for whatever benefits being a baby again brings, I was just glad one of them picked me up and calmed me down.

Eventually, the air turns to normal again and I can just breathe.

In and out.

In and out.

After a fitful and embarrassing crying, I hiccup as the one who picked me up in their arms put me back down in what I assume to be a crib.

Okay…

Let's sort out my situations calmly and reel in all of my sensitive baby emotions because crying never helps anyone. It will certainly not help me now.

So, I was run over by a car and most likely I have turned into a baby because dreams don't feel this realistic. I don't think it's plausible for a lucid dream to be this vivid. At the very least, as lucid as a dream can be, they can't possibly reenact a scene of chaos down to the tiniest detail such as the warmth of a human being.

A plausible conclusion is that I have reincarnated. I used to think such a thing couldn't possibly be true before, but apparently it was.

Okay, so I died, and reincarnated into a baby. Alright, that's easy enough to digest…maybe.

This is all so unreal, that I just have to accept whatever that looks like the most logical assumption for now. If I keep on questioning this entire phenomenon, I don't think I can take it. Therefore, it's better for me to move on.

Now I know that I have reincarnated, I need to work out just where in the world did I get reincarnated into.

Is it the same country as I was born into in my previous life, or was I born in a different one?

And what the heck is that pure evil aura?!

And stop growling, stomach! Eyes, don't you dare sweat now!

I involuntarily whimper as my hunger takes priority over everything else it seems. Because I suppressed myself from crying and dealing another blow to my fragile pride as an adult, it takes a while before someone comes to me.

"—child—hungry—Kyuubi—"

As soon as I hear some suspicious words muttered in Japanese, I stop my pathetic whimpering. Did I mishear? Did the person just say Kyuubi? I'm sure it's just my beginner Japanese language failing me.

But ah, I'm reborn in the country of the rising sun and they were probably just an otaku talking about Naruto, am I right?

"—Minato-sama—shinobi—"

…Ahahaha…haha.

So, I died because some drunk decided it was all fine and dandy to drive under influence and crashed their car into me. Then, I reincarnated into a baby. And, apparently, I am inside the Naruto world.

Wow, that's some life-changing stuff right over there.

I mean, who doesn't like being in a world where it's normal for fireballs to fly across the air and put an end to your face?

And from what I can see, I'm most likely an orphan without any family to take care of me or teach me how to survive in this ninja world.

Wow, isn't that just awesome?!

Well, at the very least, screw physics, am I right?

A week has passed since the incident where I reincarnated as a baby in the Naruto world. Today also marks the seventh day that the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze died. That also means that Naruto should be seven days old now. Everything is going according to the canon so far.

That doesn't mean it is going well for me though. First, I experienced a week of being a baby again, with my awareness and memories of past life intact. It was embarrassing to say the least and a sort of new experience at best.

One thing I found out from bits of pieces of the caretakers' conversations is that I'm a year older than Naruto. However, it seems that they don't know the exact date I was born and they don't know who my parents were. Therefore, they decided the day I was sent to the orphanage is the day I was born, which is the 4th of April.

It isn't accurate but who cares anyway. Besides, well, that should be common, isn't it?

I'm an orphan after all. Not that I mind that much anyway; I was alone for most of the time in my previous life so it wasn't anything new.

Living in the orphanage has been…noisy. Snotty kids everywhere. The only good thing is that I can crawl and soon, I think I will be able to walk with the help of my memories. Past life memories of walking for the win!

In any case, at a certain time of the day, the caretaker would take me out of my crib and put me into a room where there are toys for the infant me to play. It's a bit interesting honestly, seeing as most toys are associated with the word 'shinobi'.

There are rubber shuriken and kunai, which I didn't really pay any attention to after I played with them for a few moments.

But, to think that the brainwashing to be a child soldier to begin this early… Just, applause to the one who thought of this idea, I guess. It has to be working what with almost all of the older kids, mostly boys, wanting to be a cool shinobi.

Isn't it great to see them dream?

There are also blocks of hiragana and katakana placed in the room. Those sets of blocks are my favorite toy. In fact, I spent all of my play time studying the characters. It's the most basic of the basics in Japanese language, but it's always good to refresh my infantile brain about the Japanese characters. There are also some kids' books but they are scarce in number.

On another note, it seems like the universe likes messing around with me because I found out that I had my gender switched from female to male when the caretaker was changing my diaper.

Hoho, it's such a memorable memory to the point that it scarred me mentally for life.

…Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I made my point. At the very least, I don't need to worry about having period cramps in the future. That makes me question though, what do the females in Naruto world use to keep the blood from leaking?

Hmm, I may want to find out about that later for curiosity's sake.

In any case, if you mention about the Naruto world, the first thing that would come to mind definitely would be the cool ninjutsu they use. In other words, chakra.

I don't exactly know why, but I have been able to sense the chakra inside of my body and manipulate it easily. Perhaps it's because on Earth, there was no chakra in the human's body, that's why it comes easily to me. I can't sense other people's chakra though.

So, aside from playing with the wooden blocks and reading the same storybooks—which is getting a little boring in all honesty—I willed my chakra in my body and play around with it a little. If there is a way to describe chakra, it's like having an extra limb, except that it's intangible.

That was how I spent the entire week, and I noticed a change. My chakra reserves seem to have increased?

It is a pleasant surprise to say the least. After all, almost everything shinobi related needs chakra, so the more chakra you have, the better your chances are at surviving.

And that is why I call chakra as an extra limb. The more I use it, the more it develops, just like our muscles after undergoing continuous exercise.

When my playing around with my chakra brought such an obvious benefit, what was pastime becomes training. It isn't boring playing with my chakra all day when the feeling of achievement that the increase in my chakra reserves brings is just, mmm, Mamma Mia!

And what about becoming a civilian? Eh, I never entertained such a boring thought. I mean, why would I do normal everyday stuff when I can throw balls of fire to people's faces?

I spent my time increasing my chakra reserves, eavesdropping conversations to develop my Japanese and finally able to walk albeit surely looking like a newborn foal.

Anyways, I have always been good with languages so it didn't take me long to be able to make out full conversations.

There was nothing interesting going on and so, I breezed through two years in the blink of an eye. And so, I become a three-year old.

Wheee!

The head caretaker, whose name is apparently Fumiko, prepared a small birthday cake just for me. Personally I think the orphanage couldn't afford doing that, but when I asked her, she replied with: "It's because you have been such a good and smart boy.

"Well, since you have turned two, how about you decide on a name? Obaachan can help you pick a name if you want." The old woman smiled kindly at me.

Now that she mentioned it, I don't have a name yet in this world. I was too busy with my self-development that I unconsciously put the less important matters at the back of my head. Honestly, deciding on a new name was the last thing I have thought about.

"Do I have a last name, Fumiko-obaachan?" I enunciate every word slowly so as to not lisp because baby talk is annoying when you are mentally an adult. It's cute when real babies do it though.

"Unfortunately, because we don't know who your parents were, there is no set last name. You can decide on one if you want to. Or if you don't, that's fine as well." This time, Fumiko-obaachan revealed a sad smile.

I'd like to tell the old woman that I don't mind the mention of my dead parents because I don't even know them to begin with, but that might sound a bit grim coming from a kid.

"Do I need to decide on a last name right now?"

"No, but your full name is required before you enroll into the academy. So, there's no rush in thinking about your last name right now."

It's weird how Fumiko-obaachan is not exactly treating me like a kid, but that works fine by me. I _am_ considered smart for a three-year-old. Now, I don't need to mind about my family name or whatever, but what should I name myself?

"How does Yuki sound?" As if she had an epiphany, Fumiko-obaachan beamed at me.

"Yuki, as in snow?" Why would she name me that?

She then takes out a small mirror from a hidden pouch and bring it to my face. For the first time in this world, I get to see my appearance.

Honestly, the face that is reflected in the mirror is right in my strike zone. If I was still back on Earth, and this type of character appeared in Naruto or in any other anime, they would have been my favorite character based on appearance alone. I have pale skin and silver white hair. I have what people would call as droopy eyes, softening my facial features. This face would grow up to be cupid shooting arrows into people's hearts.

Something to note is that I have heterochromia eyes; my right is bright blue, the color of the sky and my left is crimson red, close to the color of blood.

Well, it's interesting to say the least.

Why was I reincarnated as this kind of character? I mean, if I wasn't me, I could have admired this beauty from afar without feeling narcissistic. Should I make a clone in the future, transform myself as another person so I can hug myself?

Hmm, that's something to think about later.

I turn to Fumiko-obaachan as she starts to talk.

"Written as happiness, read as snow, Yuki; people would confuse your name with the meaning snow, but that is what makes it fun. It's like having two meanings to your name." She tucks away the mirror.

Happiness, huh? That's fine by me. It's unlikely for me to achieve true happiness but at the very least, my name should be happy, am I right?

"I like it, Fumiko-obaachan!" I give her a gummy smile because the old woman deserves at least that.

She then pats my head. "I'm glad you like it, Yuki-chan. Now, shall we eat the birthday cake?"

"Yep!"

What does being able to walk and recognized as mentally matured by the matron of the orphanage mean?

That means I can now help around the orphanage! Well, as much help as my small three-year-old body can offer. I can't wash dishes yet because I am too short to reach the sink, even with the help of a stool.

I mostly help by cleaning up and arranging the scattered toys after the orphanage kids finished playing with them. Apparently, I'm one of the few that bothered doing so. The other few that helped are all girls while the boys were…well, they were being boys their age. Technically, I'm mentally a girl, so there are no boys that helped. Maybe there are some, but I haven't seen them.

Color me surprise but helping out at the orphanage is not actually mandatory. Rather, it's very voluntary. It seems like Konoha is rich enough to be able to afford enough caretakers to run this facility.

Granted, a lot of the orphanage kids end up becoming shinobi and contributing back to the village, it's not really strange. And, those that become civilian also help the orphanage out, so there's not much of a problem. Or, maybe it's just our orphanage that is better than the other orphanages.

One orphanage is not enough to house all of the orphans that the village has after all. I hope Danzou doesn't keep a close eye on my orphanage though.

Ah, I can't wait till I become an academy student and graduate to become a genin. When I have an official identity, it would be harder for that old, sneaky, evil, source-of-all-the-problems-that-Konoha-faces to kidnap me and cover it up.

…In the worst case that that happens to me, I just hope I would have someone that care enough about me, to find me. The chances are kind of bleak though, haha. Well, I currently have no worth to speak of in Danzou's eyes, so I am safe. Phew, I never felt so thankful for being so worthless before.

Getting back on topic, voluntarily helping out at the orphanage is not really a hassle since I don't have much to do. Moreover, it earns me brownie points from the caretakers which are always welcomed.

You get benefits from being favored as well. For example, whenever it is meal time, the other girls and I who helped always get a bigger portion. One time, the caretakers knowing that I like to read and am aiming to become shinobi bought and gave me a thick book about chakra.

I'd say it's inappropriate to give a thick and full-of-theories book filled with difficult terms to a three-year-old, but apparently because it's me, they deem it as the best choice they ever made in choosing gifts.

And honestly, it is the best gift I ever received, in both lifetimes. It came at the perfect time too, since just playing with my chakra inside my body is no longer considered as intensive enough to be able to increase my chakra reserves anymore.

I know for a fact that increasing one's knowledge and comprehension about chakra is going to do wonders to their chakra control. I mean, if that's not already an obvious thing to me, then the book has made it clear enough.

There are a lot of difficult kanjis that I couldn't read, so I went and got help from the caretakers which evidently helped.

Because the book is the most precious belonging that I have at the time, I bring it with me wherever I go. I even hugged it to sleep. I remain in the orphanage's vicinity so it was fine most of the time.

Today though, I decide to walk around the village. First, I need to get permission from Fumiko-obaachan.

"Fumiko-obaachan, can I go out to the village today?" I tilt my head to give an extra cuteness point. What's the use of being a beautiful child, if I don't utilize that advantage fully?

"I don't know, should I allow you to? What do you think, Yuki-chan?" She also tilts her head as she crouches down to meet my eyes.

Hoho, she's teasing me. Two can play at that game.

"Is that a no…?" I look at her with my big, droopy eyes and grab at the ends of my shirt tightly.

She hugs me before saying, "Oh, dear, I was just teasing you. Of course you can go. Just be careful out there, alright? You're so small, you might get lost in the crowd." She pauses before letting me go and getting up. "Wait here a second, Yuki-chan."

"Okay!"

Like the obedient child that I am, I wait for her for a couple of seconds before she reappears with a small cute white pouch with a blue snowflake embroidered on it in her hand.

Is that what I think it is?

She put the pouch in my smaller hands. "If you find anything you like, feel free to buy using the ryo in the pouch. It's yours from now on."

This… Wow. I did not expect this.

"Thank you, Fumiko-obaachan!" I put the pouch inside the pocket of my shorts.

_Thank you._

I go out of the orphanage's compound for the first time and into Konoha's streets with my chakra book firmly held in my hands. It is about nine in the morning, so while the streets aren't crowded, there are still enough people that it can't be called quiet.

I breathe in the fresh air and exhale. Yup, this is going to be a great day.

I start walking along the streets and just take in the view of the people with different colored hair that wouldn't have existed on Earth unless dyed, the various kinds of shops, and the scenery in general.

Most of the buildings are a mix between concrete and wood while some are completely wooden and only a small portion are purely made of concrete.

The sun is bright and the sky is clear without a hint of pollution. A place where the air is unpolluted is rare on Earth, so this is no doubt great.

There are places I want to go, for example a weapons shop, but I couldn't because you need to at least be an academy student to be able to enter them.

That means I can't practice early, huh? So this is where the advantage of being a clan kid or at least having one shinobi parent comes into play…

I stop in front of a weapons shop and look at the front door longingly.

I probably won't be able to buy anything due to me being a child and all, but a little bit of window shopping shouldn't hurt. Even if I am not allowed to enter, if I don't stay for long, nobody is going to say anything, right?

I enter the shop with anticipation. Inside the building, I marvel at all of the weapons that I could see.

Given my height, I needed to crane my head to even catch a glimpse of the weapons that are put on top of the shelves.

The store is definitely not child-friendly.

The sharp edges of tantos and katanas, the beautiful kunais and the carefully crafted shurikens have me gulping my saliva. It is like seeing a hot guy exposing his abs.

I want to touch them!

"Kid, you are not allowed in here." A gruff voice attracts my attention, and I turn around to meet the owner of the voice.

Damn, ain't you a buff man?

The person has tanned skin and his arms' muscles are showcased for all to see as he has a sleeveless white shirt on. A white bandana covered his head.

"Oh...I'm sorry." I cast my eyes down, my long eyelashes casting a small shadow over them. I try my hardest to look guilty so I am not reprimanded by the man.

It seems like my strategy, 'cuteness-overload', worked like a charm.

The man just sighed and say, "Fine, you can look, but don't touch anything."

I nod my head repeatedly, my hair bobbing up and down with the motion.

Heh, what an easy man.

I walk around the store, and occassionally stopping to look at a weapon to engrave the craftsmanship into my mind. The gruff man who turns out to be the owner of the shop, kept a close eye on me in case my hands get itchy enough to try and touch the weapons.

Well, I can't deny that I do want to touch them.

There were also other people—mostly shinobi from the looks of it—in the shop, but I pay them no mind. Besides, aside from giving the small me a few glances, they didn't talk to me so I didn't bother with them either.

In any case, I'm tired. I head out of the shop after giving a small bow and a charming smile to the owner—being a lovable kid goes a long way, I tell you—and look up the sky. It is already afternoon and the streets are filled with people.

Hmm, time sure flies fast.

My stomach growls in anger of not being fed, and I'm forced to go look for a place to eat. I want to go and eat Ramen Ichiraku. I mean, even the shop's name meant Ramen is the best pleasure; I want to know if that's true or not.

The only food that I have eaten that is the closest to ramen is probably instant noodles. But then again, I don't know where in Konoha is the shop located at. The village is bigger than people make it out to be.

I just walk on the streets with my chakra book in my grasp as I look for the one lucky shop that caught my eye for me to patronize.

...In the end, I was too exhausted to even search for a shop and I just went to a nearby park to rest.

Damn it, infantile body!

The park has swings, a small place with sand for children to build sandcastles and benches scattered around the area. There is a lot of children way older than I am, some kids that look like they are about my age, playing around the park. The parents are seated on the benches as they talk with each other, probably about gossips or how much the groceries cost nowadays.

Taking a look at them, I know that I don't belong with the others, not that I care anyway. I am not that keen to interact with kids even if I _am _physically one.

I go and sit down on the ground under a big tree. The shade the tree provides almost lulls me to sleep as I lean against its trunk. I take more than a few moments to let my body rest.

I theb open my treasured chakra book and read. As I read it, an idea pops up in my head and I look at the tree. I also scrutinize the base of the tree for fallen leaves, and lo and behold! There are plenty of leaves for my plan. I take the nearest fallen leaf and look at it.

It's green, obviously.

But that is not the point. The point is, I can do the Leaf Concentration Practice! Basically, I will be sticking a leaf to my forehead with chakra, and it would not fall off, ever. That is if I can properly do it.

Sounds _so_ exciting, right? I know. I feel like a ninja already.

I close my book and immediately put the leaf on my forehead and channel my chakra. I direct my chakra to forehead, an easy feat to perform given all of my free time spent on playing with my chakra. Having a small pool of chakra also lets me attain a perfect control over it easily. Of course, as my chakra reserves increase, I need to reattain my perfect chakra control.

In any case, the leaf sticks to my forehead, and no matter how hard I shake and swing my head like a member of a rock-metal band, it doesn't fall off.

Cool. That was boring.

I stand up and dust off the dirt from my shorts. I look at the tree.

Should I climb it?

I mean, I'm pretty sure I won't slip off the tree and fall because even though I believe that I'm not a genius, I'm not stupid either. I won't run up the tree, believing that I will be able to climb it just like how Naruto and Sasuke did it in the series. That's just plain dumb. The Tree-Walking Exercise doesn't work that way.

The question does not lay within my chakra control. It is more of a question whether I would have enough chakra for it or not. I am an orphan and there is no adult to supervise me; if I am to collapse because of chakra exhaustion, that would not only be embarrassing, but also troublesome. I don't want Fumiko-obaachan to be troubled. Most importantly, if I am to ever collapse here, I am certain that I will not be allowed to go outside the orphanage again.

It _is_ tempting... However, I am not lacking in brain cells. Maybe I can climb the walls in the orphanage to compensate for my loss this time? Of course, I need to be discrete if I want to try that.

I should head back to the orpahanage. I am both hungry and tired. While I can go to one of the random shops in Konoha's streets like I initially wanted to do, now that I think about it, it's better for me to save the money.

I'm an orphan, and I'm poor. Enough said.

As I hear footsteps from behind me, I turn my head away from the tree. I look at the person, _kid_, in front of me.

"What are you doing?" The small girl with her dark brown hair styled into two Chinese-style buns asks me as she lisps. She wears some kind of pink Chinese clothing—it's not a Cheongsam as far as I know—and has a wide smile on her face.

I don't want to jump into conclusions, but this girl is probably _tha__t_ girl.

"What is your name?" Compared to her, I don't talk with a lisp, even if that meant my speech was a tad bit slow.

"I'm Tenten!" The girl exclaims and she points at me. "What's your name?"

Oh, she's really Tenten.

Oh.

For the time being, let's introduce myself.

"I'm Yuki. Written as happiness, read as snow, Yuki."


End file.
